Teagan 7

I can’t say the word M&M.  I never have and I probably never will.  I’ve given up trying at this point, and now avoid the word as much as I possibly can.  Instead of ordering M&M ice cream, I get cookie dough. Instead of eating M&M candies, I eat Skittles (both multi-colored and round).  The word has now become foreign to me, always sounding strange on my tongue. But I’m okay with that, because I sound like an idiot when I say it.

Week 7

People have earned their adjectives

Week 6

People grant the benefit to the doubt to those they deem worth. At the same time people criticize those they think are unworthy of praise

Week 5

We build only to destroy something else.

Maggie week 7

“All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them” - Walt Disney

Week 4

Perhaps we’re already here

Ryan week 7

How can employers or schools expect to really know who you are if everyone is making themselves look as favorable as possible on their resumes? I wonder what a world would look like if everyone just turned into their resume.

Ryan week 6

Can you really ever fully appreciate a moment while your in it or will it always just be that you don’t know how special and memorable something is until your past it.

Ryan week 5

Is it better to be at a prestigious school and caught in the shuffle or to be at an average school and be top of your class? I think that being near the top in whatever pond your in is best, but it seems that is not the prevailing sentiment.

Ryan week 4:

I think that there really only can only be two outcomes when you work really hard for something. Success or devastation.

Audrey - Week 7

Do you know that horrible feeling you get when you’ve been procrastinating for a long amount of time and you are hyper aware of what you’re doing but you just. Keep doing it? It’s almost an out-of-body experience. How does one physically capture an out-of-body experience on paper?

Annika- Week 8

I miss Halloween as a child. Getting candy, dressing up with friends. Now it’s not any fun to go trick or treating and it’s just as not fun to sit at home and watch Hocus Pocus. Is this what growing up feels like? Take me to Neverland please? But please don’t actually because an alligator with a clock stuck in its throat sounds absolutely terrifying.

Nolan 7

What about writing about the story of a piece of trash? I can follow where it goes and who it encounters.

Nolan 6

I thought of a funny short story to write. It would be about a frog that makes a funny noise when it goes to croak.

Julia- Week 7

I don’t know what I’m going to do when my cousin goes to college next year. I won’t be able to see her as much as I do now and that makes me sad. I’m just really going to miss her.

Hannah - Week 7

Most people get songs stuck in their heads, right? And sometimes they can't help but say the lyrics aloud or hum the melody. That happens to me too, but instead of songs, I get words or phrases. Today, for example, it's this:

What do you want, Adam?

To feel awake when my eyes are open.

These are lines from a book I like, about a character who I like. Adam has no money, never has time to sleep, and likes a girl he can't have, and this line perfectly encompasses his state of mind in this book. Of course I have this line stuck in my head! I've been repeating these words over and over since I woke up this morning. Plus, Adam has a Virginia accent, so when I say the second line with a Virginia accent.

I swear I'm not crazy.

Claire Shea – Week 7

For the past year, I don't think there was a single day that there wasn't any bread in the house. Right now, there are 7 everything bagels, my mother's cranberry pecan rolls, and 3 stale English muffins. I wonder what else is in constant supply or constant absence around here. What would happen if the supply was reversed; say, if I ran out of bread, only to find a cabinet full of vintage candles in the basement?

Alicia-6 and 7

7-You know people are being pushed too hard when the most dedicated ones ask the coaches to take it easy. When Eliz went up to Estabrook and asked if she could do a 4 mile run instead of a 5 mile run that she was told to do, I knew that our training was getting too intense. This would be a good way to show that people are being overworked without directly saying it.

8-After spending a good portion of the day with Molly, I understand her ADHD a lot more. Her ADHD was much more prominent than usual, which is because she has been off of her aderol medication for over three days (it was long weekend-she doesn't take it on weekends). For one, nothing seems remotely serious, and she never focuses only on one thing. We baked a cake, but had to wait for it to cook, so we put on the TV and a few seconds later she had her SFX (special effects) kit out and was using my sister's face as her canvas. I'd love to have a bigger diversity of characters, and I think including one with ADHD would really add depth and make things more interesting.

Jennifer - Week 7

Over the long weekend I got to go to a sleepover with some of my friends. I don't get to do things like that often because I am usually so busy with homework and activities outside of school. This reason is also why I never plan things, but when a friend invites me to do something fun, I always try to go even if that means stressing me out more in the process because I have to replan when I get things done. I don't think this is how the world should work, yet it does. I never regret getting to spend time with my friends and I wish we could do it more often. However, I try to make the best of the situation, and treasure every rare moment when I get to hang out with friends outside of school.

Annika- Week 7

I never know how to end journal entries. I just want to abruptly end my spiel but then it feels incomplete. But how do you sum up a revelation or epiphany? All I ever do is end it with “Oops.” or “Wow.” or “I guess…” or some boring stuff like that. Now I’ve come to the end and I don’t know how to end this. Oops. I guess I’ll never know how. Shoot. Now I have to end it again. Oh well.

Week 7 Bella

Life is wack. There, I said it. I know that's such an open ended statement but bare with me. I'll talk about one aspect; why is it that some people want an item so badly but once they possess it, they grow bored with time- months, days, sometimes even minutes. I’ll tell you, I think it’s because when we as humans see somethings that we can’t possess, we start to fantasize about the possibilities of obtaining such an item. Coming up with situations, possible futures in which we possess the item, at the same time though, those fantasies are exactly that, fantasies in which the world we imagine isn’t real, rather a romanticized version.

So once we finally obtain said item, the curtain drops, and all of those fantasies’ expectations aren’t met by the harsh reality of actually possessing the item. The item doesn’t change who we are, or make us different in any way, the sky won’t be any bluer than it previously was, and so we come to realize that all of the constructs we’ve created, the illusion of beautiful moments, are, well, shattered. Don’t believe me? Why else did Gatsby dream of the green light at the end of the dock? All those nights spent reaching out into the void? And yet once he obtained ‘his’ desire, what happened? Was it all it was marked up to be? Did he continue to place so much value on the green light? That’s all I’m saying. Maybe we as humans like to put faith into things that aren’t in our control. Almost as though we find comfort in the idea that if something goes wrong it isn’t our fault or the concept that a miracle could happen so long as we keep praying. Life is wack.

Skye- Week 6

Story idea: Two parts
Part One- Tells a story of an average day of an average person
Part Two- Tells same story but one thing is changed that disrupts the original schedule of the person, maybe they end up dying because of the small change? Or something else happens that greatly affects their life.

Julia- Week 6

The spirit rally was last week and it got me thinking about how close I am to becoming a senior, then graduating high school. It’s actually kind of sad. I feel like I literally just started freshman year and I have no idea how the time went by so fast.

Maggie Mullen Week 6

“It’s not about the places you go but rather the people you meet along the way” - quote by my market basket cashier

Claire Shea – Week 6

A Nobel Prize was recently awarded to a pair of researchers who discovered how cells use oxygen. I was surprised; I'd always thought that was such a fundamental concept of biology. I thought we must have known the answer for decades, like the structure of DNA, but there are always surprises when it comes to missing details. After all, we've seen the edges of the solar system but have yet to explore the bottom of our own oceans.

Jarami - Week 6

Some buildings seem like simulations. Like in sims. When your sim would show up anywhere so would everyone else. Coincidence? I think not. let me know why I’m thinking of this instead of doing my work for college or the play I have to produce in what feels like minutes. I used to play sims when I was like 10 why does it still pop into my mind? 

Jaramie - Week 5

Trying to teach the kids in my cast that they don’t constantly have to be apologizing for doing literally nothing is quite hard. They are practically apologizing for their existence. I wish I could shake them and tell them that no matter how they may feel, it’s going to be okay. 

Hannah - Week 6

This week has been so perfect. I spent time with my parents, solving math problems and laughing over The X-Files. I slept over my best friends' house and made cupcakes with Alicia and teased Kaley's boyfriend and cried laughing. I kissed my girlfriend in a bathroom and then she couldn't stop kissing me, even when it was time to go. People always say high school is the best time of your life, and I'm starting to believe it.

Jennifer - Week 6

Today wasn't a great day because I went the entire school day with a migraine. However, this gave me an interesting story idea: what if a person could not only see inside somebody's head, but feel pain as if they were that person. That could lead to some interesting discoveries. I would also want to explore what my migraines would look like to someone else because I tend to get strange symptoms and I think it would be funny to explore what they would seem like to another person.

Audrey - Week 6

Humans need order in our lives. We think we’re complex, we think we're smarter than any other creature on this planet, but I argue that we’re still pretty simple. Too simple to accept and settle in the chaos of the universe. So we try and change it - or at least the parts we can see. We build patterns of neighborhoods and standards, and societal structure to live by. We need structure.

When life falls into chaos, I need structure. When the day has been overwhelming, I need to end it with putting down my pen, brushing my teeth, and going to bed at 10:00 pm.

Teagan-6

Song lyrics are modern day poetry.  They are deep and beautiful and insightful, but written in a more current and understandable way.  Maybe that’s why people enjoy listening to music rather than reading poetry. They like the feeling of understanding what it is they are reading/listening to.  It gives them a sense of knowledge, of being sophisticated and intelligent, giving them confidence in their intellectual gifts. We can’t fault them though, we all want to feel smart and capable.

Annika- Week 6

The Germans left on Saturday. I already miss them so much. People keep saying that we’ll get to see everyone next June when we all go to Germany. But what if something goes wrong. What if we don’t see these wonderful people ever again. I know I shouldn’t dwell on that but it’s constantly on my mind. I miss the adventures, the laughs, the people- everything. I just miss everyone so much.

Reddington - Week 6

Pushing carts in the rain makes me happy for some reason. I’ve always liked rain it’s fun, nothing better than curling up on a blanket and watching some Netflix or a movie or something while a big thunder storm rages on plus thunder and lighting looks cool as hell. Watching it from the porch of my family beach house has to be one of my favorite things, wishing I was there instead of pushing carts for hours on end ugh. 

Elaina-6

1. I miss my sister today. She’s in college at UVM. We’ve gotten a lot closer since she’s left, and I can’t wait for her to come back home. I hope she’s having a fun time in college though. It’s her second year so I infer that she kinda knows what’s going on by now. Anyways, I just miss her. 

Week 6 Shawn

Why is the expression don't judge a book by it's cover.

The cover is of the book is the part that is designed for someone to judge whether or not it's good

Shouldn't it be something more like

Don't judge a cake by its frosting

Bella Week 6

I’m not sure if I’m alone here, frankly I don’t care if I am, but one thing I find myself having fun with is dancing. And no- not some posh dance class level moves, but completely random chaotic dancing, simply for the sake of it. Music blasting, filling the empty house. These moments are a breath of fresh air, I’m alone and yet I’m the farthest I ever am from being lonely. That and the music can be inspirational, maybe it’s just me, but like I said I couldn’t give a flying care in the world if that's the case.

Bella Week 5

The past few days have been filled with nothingness. I’m not kidding- it’s as thought senoritis has hit me hard- leaving me all but a potato. Today, though, I’m not sure how, why, or even when but when I got home something clicked within me. Now I have all these ideas and thoughts buzzing around within the hive of my head non stop; it is invigorating. I don’t want to make false promises to myself so I dare not write down my plans, but it’s safe to say I hope to be able to realize the dreams within my head, even if they’re only that at the moment- dreams. 

Claire Shea – Week 5

It's intimidating, having to commit to a single career or field of study for the rest of your life. You'd become an expert in that and only that, while everything else withers around it. If I were to become a scientist, would I lose my knowledge of history, or French? Would I reach a point where I'd no longer be able to write?

Julia- Week 5

The other day, I drove by myself to pick up my sister from her friend’s house. Even though I’ve had my license for a month I had yet to drive completely alone. It was weird not to have my mom or dad next to me while I was driving, but I also got exposed to this sense of freedom that I’ve never experienced before. I’m excited to begin driving more on my own!

Maggie week 5

There’s nothing better than fall time the smell of pumpkin spice, apple picking, apple crisp, the weather starting to get colder and best of all, all the cool old monstober Disney movies start coming on 

Alicia-5

I wish I knew what other people were thinking. I am always wondering what my teachers think about their students and whether or not people are confused about a topic in class. Many people don't voice certain thoughts because they're afraid that people will judge them and they won't be understood. It would be cool to develop a story that switches between two perspectives and the main characters don't share their feelings with one another, so only the reader knows how they truly feel. Dramatic irony. Mwahahaha.

Teagan-5

I learned a new word today-facets.  Two faces. Two sides of the story, two different tales.  I thought of this as I watched a rerun of a Law and Order episode, in which two completely different testimonies were given.  Two opposing, contrasting accounts of the same event. Perception is a funny thing. 100 people can watch the same exact movie, but have takeaways that are completely different.  We all have the same eyes more or less (discounting color and shape), yet, it’s what behind our eyes, and in our brains, that are totally different.

Grace- Week 5

I wonder how many times I will walk down these halls and just want to leave, and how many times I will walk down these halls and never want to leave them.

Nolan 5

I had a story idea. It will be about someone who is white but can speak spanish. The person will be near two spanish guys who don’t think he can understand the language. The guy will hear a secret that was not supposed to get out.

Jennifer - Week 5

Back to School Night got me thinking. What if instead of the parents coming to school for one night just to meet the teachers, they had to go in for the whole school day and then do any homework that was assigned that night. It's funny to think of my mom trying to get to all my classes on time, or to think about my mom trying to get through something like German class, when she doesn't speak a word of it. I think the parents going through a school day would help them see first hand what the workload is like or how stressful a day can become. I know they all went through high school when they were younger, but I think it would be funny for them to spend a day in our shoes and see how much things have changed.

Hannah - Week 5

I can't stop thinking about an interaction I had this summer. I was at the airport in Istanbul, ready to fly back to Boston after two weeks visiting my family. I sat down in my seat on the plane when my dad, whom I was traveling with, nudged me and said in Turkish, "Look at that guy standing up across the aisle." I looked. The guy was wearing a Groton-Dunstable football sweatshirt.

Now, I want you to consider the odds of finding someone who goes to a school very near yours on an airplane halfway around the world in a large yet obscure city. Just think about it.

Before I could express any of this shock to my dad, he yelled across the plane (in English), "GROTON-DUNSTABLE SUCKS. GRAY GHOSTS RULE."

And this guy, this poor guy from Groton-Dunstable who I guarantee you was not expecting the mascot of a rival high school to be shouted at him by a bald dad in Europe, just shook his head and said, "Yeah, that's fair."

Funniest moment of my life.

Reddington week 5

I was working at market basket again, and i've seen how absolutely insane people can drive in parking lots its insane, i've been hit by cars have had cars hit the carriages its brutal out there. People have died in that parking lot and they just want me to waltz around WHAT? luckily if I do the lot i can leave on my own terms once its finished but still. Is it worth it. I've noticed 90% of my entrees are about market basket  not a good sign oh well, that store is sucking the life out of me 4 days a week when did I become a blue collar worker i'm still technically a kid stuffs crazy. I should quit customers can be just the worst people oh my god if another person pushes a carriage at me as i'm already pushing a row im gonna yell.

Week 5- Skye

Under the reflections of the hard rich green,
lays soft bulbous formations.
In rusted orange, oxidized
by the water.
The quivering surface of blue disturbs
the perfect picture, but
the swirls of brown and and deep blue remain.
- pond water

Audrey S - Week 5

I wish I was ten years old. I wish I was still playing Connect Four on the floor mattress with my dad, fingers crimson from Dorito dust. I wish I was learning about snow leopards and basilisk lizards for school projects, and itching to get home from after-school to watch animal documentaries. I wish I was eating at the table with my dad, forgetting to touch my food because NOVA was on. I wish… doesn’t do anything. College costs money, but Doritos and board games and TV shows didn’t feel like they did.

Annika- Week 5

1. This exchange is making me realize that I never have any fun. For example, on Friday we went to Boston and left school early. My group of friends did so much random and funny crap. We bought pineapples for crying out loud (they were only a dollar might I add). Then we took pictures with them all around Boston. We went to Fire and Ice and were close to ten minutes late for our meeting spot and then had to run a half mile down Boylston Street, laughing our heads off and screaming at cars when we got to crosswalks. Unfortunately I only have a week left with these people and I don’t want to know how sad my life will be after that now that I know what it’s like to go out and have fun. I suppose an easy solution could be to just go out more but that’s a lot of work. 

Here is a picture of our pineapples at the “Make Way for Ducklings Statue” for reference

Shawn Week 5

Why is the military in dystopian novels so useless.
Like the first act is all about how powerful and terrifying they are and then they can't so much as hit a shot.
The main characters are usually not even that good at running away. Like if they fall why don't you just shoot them then

Julia-Week 4

My sister and I decided to go on a drive today just the two of us and it felt really nice to go out for awhile and forget about all the stress that comes with school. We drove around town, listened to music and just enjoyed spending time together.

Grace - Week 4

I guess everything happens for a reason, even if it is a bad decision or something you regret.

Jaramie - Week 4

Do you ever see someone walking around and they have a tag sticking out or their collars messed up and for a second you're about to reach out and fix it and then you’re like wait I don’t know that person I can’t do that. Isn’t it weird that we don’t tell them or help though even when we notice? 

Jaramie - Week 3

My sister called me the other day just to seem busy while she exited her apartment. You see she doesn't like her housemates therefore she doesn’t want to talk to them whenever possible, hence the phone call.  She could’ve just used headphones, I appreciate that she also got to talk to me though. I find her roommate conflict comical. I hope I don't run into the same negativity when I'm at college.

Nolan 4

I wonder how many people it took to make the chair in the library. All of the tools used to process the wood and the tools used to make the tools to process the wood.

Teagan-4

The sky is purple.  Dark, deep purple, with swirls of pink.  It’s edges are tinged with blue, starting from midnight blue and fading slowly into a pale aquamarine.  The setting sun paints rays of soft orange over all the purples, pinks and blues. The sunset is beautiful, full of glowing and soothing colors, colors that seem to wrap you in a soft embrace.  These are the colors which give me solace, peace of mind, serenity. These are the colors that our world should always see.

Skye- Week 4

Where has my motivation gone? Out the window, across the country and to the center of the Earth, that's where. Even to write a simple journal entry, my motivation is nowhere to be found.

Jennifer - Week 4

Today I saw a little girl wearing a Peppa Pig bathing suit, instead of a leotard, at dance today. This made me wonder why she was wearing a bathing suit to dance class. Maybe she just couldn't find a clean leotard? Or she really loves Peppa Pig and wanted everyone to see her new bathing suit? It's just an interesting thing to think about; why would someone show up to dance class in a bathing suit?

Hannah - Week 4

In a book series I like, it's revealed that a teenage boy brought his best friend back from the dead by magically remaking him, creating a "forgery." It comes with the implication that if the "forgery" died, the boy could just remake him again. Naturally, this has sparked massive amounts of speculation among the fans, and the general consensus seems to be that the pair were originally lovers, and resumed their relationship after the resurrection. The amount of fanfiction this pairing has spawned is astounding, and even better are the raw effing lines that are scattered in these fanfictions. For example:

• "What number do you think you are?"
• "Are you the same one?" "I'm the only one."
• "If he didn't care about me, he wouldn't have brought me back."

I'm always amazed by the people who write achingly beautiful fanfiction with gorgeous, raw lines like these for no reason other than because they love the stories. And people say fanfiction isn't real writing.

Audrey - Week 4

I’m obsessed with Christmas time. The pure joy and merriment attached to that time of year, the feeling you get when you walk into a store, or drive by a neighborhood at night. The environment is so happy, and that makes me so happy. I even love cheesy Hallmark movies, because the joy is so contagious. I love the crisp burn of peppermint hot chocolate as it slips down your throat. I love the frantic energy in my fingers and the billowing heat of my kitchen when I’m “sous-chef”-ing family dinner. Hopefully I can capture that in a short story one day.

Paige W4

I want to either write a story or illustrate some sort of myth with a modern twist. I’ve always liked mythology and lore and I think it would be a lot of fun. Theres so many different stories to choose. 

Annika- Week 4

Today is Google Classroom’s 5th birthday. This is absolutely crazy to me. I remember the first time we used Google Drive/Classroom. It was in 5th grade which makes sense since I’m in 10th now. But it’s crazy to think that every 5th and maybe even 2nd grader nowadays is going to have access to all this incredible technology. It’s crazy that despite all of the amazing advances we’ve made we’re all still going to die from global freaking warming and climate change. Like what is wrong with us. We can create bombs that can kill millions of people. We can create robots that can perform complex surgeries. We can create websites on which every student’s essays and projects are displayed. And yet we can not suck any of this extra CO2 out of the air? That’s outrageous. Why put all of our time and effort into robots and websites and war when the generation that these are providing for won’t even get to see what life is like in 30 years.

Reddington Week 4

I want to write a book or a screenplay or something I have a lot of ideas (slightly changed from other works that I shamelessly evoke). And I have been trying to think of a new idea or a combination of older ideas that i can mesh and slide things around in order to make a narrative that seems new. Currently I have been working on an idea that is a jacob's ladder esk story that deals with debilitating mental health and a spiral because psych class has got me goin rn and slowly see a man fall further and further just cut out the whole war element and call it a day.

Paige W3

Sometimes I just think of imagery that I think would be cool in a story, for example; “I’m drowning, Every time my face breaks the surface I feel the kiss of air and the caress of sunlight, but quickly I’m torn back under"

Claire Shea – Week 4

If there was a way to talk to ghosts, would it be easy? Would you be able to ask how they died, or what the afterlife is like, as if you're having an ordinary conversation? Or would you have to lay out Scrabble tiles, an Ouija board, maybe some alphabet soup for good measure, if you wanted to communicate? Either way, if you start to see messages appear in your cereal, you might not be able to not see them anymore.

Week 4

Today I went to the market and noticed that a lady was buying a whole 2 shopping carts full of ice cream and was wondering what she could’ve possibly been doing with that much ice cream?

Shawn Week 4

A cool idea for a type of story is to completely get rid of the idea of plot armor.
In most stories there is at least one character (usually the narrator) who seemingly can't die which partialy ruins any suspense.
So what if...
They died?